Here’s why the Moto X could be worth the Rs 23,999 price tag

The Moto X has finally been launched in India and although there’s no Moto Maker in tow, there’s plenty to be excited about when it comes to the Motorola flagship. However, we can imagine some people wondering whether it is worth the Rs 10,000 premium over the Moto G , which has a similarly-sized display, the exact same resolution and a quad-core processor. In comparison, the Moto X comes with just a dual-core processor and with a 720p display, it’s not exactly a flagship in the vein of the Galaxy S4 or the LG G2 , in that it doesn’t have a full HD display. So what makes the Moto X worth the Rs 23,999 price tag? We take a look.

Build quality If reviews of the phone are anything to go by and seeing Motorola’s handiwork with the Moto G, we can safely say that the Moto X will be one solidly-built phone. It looks to fit right in the curve of your palm, but that’s in the promotional images. What do the critics have to say? The Verge said , “The Moto X is terrific to hold and use, too. It’s a meaty device, thin enough to compete with its contemporaries, yet dense. Fully packed.”

Other reviews were also full of praise for the build quality, Wired UK said , “The gently textured back feels nice to the touch”. The review continued saying the curved back made very little difference in the final analysis, but it did feel like you were holding a proper phone. Engadget said the back panel of the white and black models , the only ones available for sale in India at the moment (the other colour variants are on pre-order) “have a trippy, Magic Eye-like effect.”

The Moto G could be called bit chunky, but the Moto X has good ergonomics on paper. Motorola has also managed to keep the size down despite the not-so-small display. It has a 10.4mm thickness at the thickest part and tapers to 5.6mm at the edges, which should ideally give it a good feel in the hand.

Touchless Control The Moto X is always listening for your voice commands thanks to Touchless Control , but it only responds to you and not just any command shouted in its direction. This is possible because of the low-power contextual computing and natural language processors that Motorola designed and works in sync with the Snapdragon S4 1.7GHz dual-core SoC. After users ‘train’ the phone to listen to their voice, only their voice works to unlock the phone. Voice commands can not only search the web, but can be used to read out incoming text messages, send replies, open apps, make phone calls, and a lot more.

Convenience Need to check the time, but don’t have a watch handy? Just pull the Moto X out of your pocket and it’ll automatically show you the time, along with any other notifications you might have missed. There’s no need to hit the power button or tap the display either.

Get into a car, and the Moto X knows you are in a moving vehicle and switches itself to car mode to read out incoming texts and respond to more voice commands. Stop driving and it will switch back to normal mode. Similarly, when you are in a meeting that has been synced with the phone’s calendar, the phone will automatically go into silent mode and send replies to any incoming mails about when you will be available to reply.

Moreover, the Moto X’s 10MP camera can be turned on with just a couple of flicks of the wrist, when the phone is locked. This should allow you to click those near-miss moments better.

Power savings The Moto X’s AMOLED display means that notifications can be beamed on the screen without turning the entire display on. AMOLED technology allows only certain pixels to be turned on, while leaving the rest of the display off. So instead of an LED notification, Moto X uses a portion of the screen to notify you of incoming alerts, instead of bringing on the whole display. This ideally should result in a lot of power savings and you needn’t even unlock your phone to check out that cursory ‘okay’ your friend sent back in reply to your message.

Secondly, the companion low-power contextual computing and natural language processors, take a lot of load off the Snapdragon SoC. This means the processor is not as taxed as in most other phones. This too should result in less power consumption.

The bottom line Despite mid-range specs, Moto X is about the user experience and making certain things easier for you. Yes, it does not have the top-notch internals one expects from a traditional flagship, but the Moto X has been designed to deliver the best smartphone experience. The initial launch price of $559 might have been a hard sell in India, but at Rs 23,999, which is actually less than the $400 international price that it’s retailing at currently, it’s certainly worth its price.